TracyR Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 What writing program would you all recommend for a 13yr old girl that has basic writing skills? My oldest struggles with writing period. She has a tough time putting together good sentences and paragraphs that make sense. I'm thinking IEW but we tried this once and she didn't care for it much. I could try it again but is there any others out there that would help a struggling writer write better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicurn Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 I don't know if you would be interested in or not, but my son is doing a Intro to Comp class on-line through Laurel Tree Tutorials. My son, he is 12, sounds alot like you daughter. (We completed IEW student intensive B last year, and it was okay, but nothing spectacular.) Laurel Tree this year has been wonderful, and I have nothing but good things to say about the classes. (My oldest is taking an Intro to Lit class with Laurel Tree as well, and will be taking the high school Intro to Comp class next year.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Roller Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 My DD11 is using PBW - http://patternbasedwriting.com/. We are only on Pattern 5, but I am seeing huge improvements in her paragraphs. PBW is the first program that I have tried that makes logical sense to ME! I have tried IEW, Writing Strands and The Paragraph Book series by EPS, but they didn't click with me. PM me if you have any more questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Writing Skills by EPS Books or The Paragraph Series by EPS Books. Many people have enjoyed Jump In! It bombed here. We do not care for any IEW-type programs. What we loved about the Writing Skills books was that they teach how to take a topic, generate ideas and write from the ideas ie outline you made. It also has grammar but not intense, just the basics to help one write well. Loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug_1976 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 We tried several different curriculums (IEW, Apologia's Jump In, Writing Strands...) before settling on Write Shop. My oldest dd likes to write, but dd#2 hates/struggles with it. While dd#2 doesn't necessarily "like" Write Shop, we are working through it and I have seen much improvement in her writing skills. I also find it easy to use as a "teacher." There is so much help in there if you are unsure how to "grade" writing papers (this is totally me!). So we are going to stick with Write Shop to the end!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymonkeybug Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 One I haven't used yet but want to try this coming school year is Imitation In Writing by Matt Whitling of the Logos School. www.logosschool.com and www.logospressonline.com Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Write Source may work for her. Each unit starts off teaching a paragraph and then moves on to a longer essay (which you are of course free to skip;)). Even more basic is Four Square. I love it for teaching paragraph writing---it may seem kinda young for your daughter, but perhaps you could just use the method to teach paragraph writing without using the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 I just started my 7th grade son with Pattern Based Writing and once done will use Writing Strands 4. He is only on Pattern 4. I like that he can do most on his own with me checking in on him. Hopefully by the time he's done with both programs he'll be ready for High School. My 5th grade dd is using Hands on Essays. She watched the DVD, reads the manual and does her lesson. I help when needed. Once she finishes Hands on Essays, I'll have her start Pattern Based Writing as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Also wanted to add, if you do go with IEW, Easy Classical has a writing program that corresponds with IEW. I will use this with my two middle children next school year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Have you looked into Meaningful Composition? I am happy with what I am using right now, but I ordered this anyways after looking at the samples online. We may use it in the future as I liked what I saw from the samples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Writing Skills by EPS Books What we loved about the Writing Skills books was that they teach how to take a topic, generate ideas and write from the ideas ie outline you made. It also has grammar but not intense, just the basics to help one write well. Loved it! :iagree: Definitely at least look at EPS Writing Skills. This is the series that got us "over the hump" when DD was struggling with writing. It is very step-by step. DD still doesn't love writing but she can do it and better yet, do it independently. We used Jump In after EPS and that worked pretty well. It would have been a bomb if we tried it before as DD wasn't ready for the more open ended assignments. Good Luck! Pegasus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyR Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Thanks everyone. I'll have to check them all out. This was the one thing we lacked in with homeschooling was writing. I could just never find a program that either clicked with me and made sense to teach or the kids didn't click with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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